26 of 27 Nations "Pose a Threat" to Wider EU Economy

The latest news out of the European Commission is that Cyprus, Denmark, and Finland have been added to a watch list of nations with “government deficits deemed high enough to pose a threat to the wider European economy.” It actually brings the tally up to 26 out of 27 EU countries that pose that threat. That’s right, almost every single one.

According to Bloomberg:

“The watch list now includes 26 of the 27 member countries, leaving only Luxembourg as being within the EU limit of a 3 percent budget deficit. Luxembourg finished 2009 at 2 percent. Cyprus recorded a deficit of 6.1 percent of GDP last year. Deficits are expected to reach 5.4 percent this year in Denmark and 4.1 percent in Finland. All three countries have been given deadlines to correct the situation.

“The EC, however, also announced that 12 countries have taken effective action to fight their excessive budget deficits, by cutting government spending and introducing revenue-boosting measures as promised. Among them are Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

“With the EC trying to keep its financial house from crumbling, Moody’s announcement on Monday that it had downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk status was criticized as “surprising” and “unfortunate” by EU Commissioner Olli Rehn.”

The article even goes on to note that Greece is the first nation to lost its investment rating in the history of the eurozone. It’s a rough time to be a member of the European economy.

About Rocky Vega:

Rocky Vega is publisher of Agora Financial International, where he advances the growth of Agora Financial publishing enterprises outside of the US. Previously, he was publisher of The Daily Reckoning, and founding publisher of both UrbanTurf and RFID Update — which he ran from Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico — as well as associate publisher of FierceFinance. Rocky has an honors MS from the Stockholm School of Economics and an honors BA from Harvard University, where he served on the board of directors for Let?s Go Publications, Harvard Student Agencies, and The Harvard Advocate.